The present invention relates to a voice recognition control system and a voice recognition control method adapted for controlling input/output of an electronic device by a voice uttered from an operator.
More particularly, the present invention is equipped with a control means which compares an input operator's voice with a registered voice recognition table and controls the input/output of an electronic device in accordance with the result of such comparison, wherein the voice recognition table of the electronic device is registered upon connection of the electronic device to the control means, so that the input/output of the electronic device can be controlled through voice recognition with regard to each of the voice-recognizable electronic devices.
A variety of electronic devices are currently being developed and diffused with the recent technological progress. In order to realize simplified and comfortable use of such electronic devices, urgent development is now in rapid advance to enhance the operability, and the development is expedited with respect to, for example, the voice recognition control system and so forth which operate electronic devices through voice recognition. The voice recognition control system serves to operate a desired electronic device in accordance with a voice uttered from an operator, and is capable of performing more simplified and comfortable operation of the electronic device in comparison with the known manual operation.
In executing such control, it is necessary that any connected voice-recognizable electronic device be recognized by the voice recognition control system so that this system can execute exact control through voice recognition. For example, an input voice is converted by the voice recognition control system into a unique control command corresponding to the recognized electronic device, and then the control command is outputted to the electronic device to control the same.
An example utilizing such a voice recognition control system mentioned above is an automobile voice recognition control system. Known electronic devices for automobile use include compact disc (CD) player and mini disc (MD) player adapted for voice recognition, and also car navigation system (car navigator) based on the global positioning system. Due to control of such devices through voice recognition, it becomes possible, even during driving, to achieve easy operation thereof without impairing the safety.
According to the conventional voice recognition control system, in an exemplary case where voice-recognizable CD players, MD players and car navigators are connected to a voice recognition system and such electronic devices are to be operated through voice recognition, some voice-recognizable CD players, MD players and car navigators are registered in advance by the voice recognition control system, and a bus (communication line), to which each of the registered CD players, MD players and car navigators is connected, is determined previously. That is, exclusive recognition is performed by the use of an exclusive bus.
Therefore, by connection of the preregistered CD player, MD player and car navigator to an exclusive bus, the input/output thereof can be controlled through voice recognition.
However, according to the conventional voice recognition control system, each of the entire voice-recognizable electronic devices registered previously in the voice recognition control system is recognized upon connection thereof to an exclusive bus, whereby control is performed through voice recognition.
Therefore, when any unregistered electronic device (e.g., new-model electronic device or one made by some other company) adapted for voice recognition has been connected, this device fails to be recognized since there exists merely the control information for the registered electronic devices alone. Consequently, even if the electronic devices are those adapted for voice recognition, there arise some problems including that the procedure for registration is complicated and, as the contents of registration are different depending on the type of each device, it is impossible to perform proper control thereof through voice recognition.